Plastic containers are a well-known form of housing objects, especially perishable foods that can spoil. Such containers come in different shapes and sizes, and can store consumable items such as fruits, vegetables, or other food items.
Containers for storing food items can have tamper-evident qualities such that the container visually depicts whether the container was previously opened, thus providing an indication that the contents were tampered with. In this manner, a buyer can be assured that the container has not been opened, and that the contents of the container have not been altered since the container was initially closed.
Conventional tamper-evident structures are insufficient for many reasons. For example, typical tamper-evident structures create an opening in the container that exposes the container contents, leading to possible spoiling of the contents. Also, some tamper-evident containers are flexible and allow a user to open the container without activating the tamper-evident structure. In addition, many tamper-evident structures include removable features that do not allow the container to be reused. Moreover, these tamper-evident structures do not clearly indicate that the container has been opened because the absence of the structure, rather than the presence of an altered tamper-evident structure, indicates to the user that the container has been opened. Therefore, if the user does not know that a tamper-evident structure should be present, and the tamper-evident structure is missing, the user may be unaware that the tamper-evident structure was activated.